Rebuilding the Ringstar Brand for A New Product Launch

Ringstar has been one of the leading names in the protective martial arts shoe market for several years, with a recognizable brand and solid product lineup that its customers love.

When Brandon Staires took over the business in 2015, however, he wasn’t content to maintain the status quo. He had a vision of updating the brand with a new look and working hard on the product line to make sure that they truly had the best product on the market.

With a very small in-house team, Brandon needed to bring in an outside partner that could help the company focus on their ideal customer, redefine their brand and prepare a strategic marketing rollout for the launch of their new protective shoe, the FightPro v2.

It was more to Brandon than simply hiring a marketing agency. Brandon needed a team that could help him navigate a difficult manufacturing situation and a shift from his traditional wholesale business to a digital native ecommerce brand. On top of the business and marketing strategy, Brandon needed a team that had creative chops and could execute on the launch plan.

Rebranding Ringstar

The process started with a rebrand, taking the original Ringstar logo and brand, and bringing a modern feel that would align with the big step forward they were taking with their new line of shoes.

Old Logo

The Branding Process

Through our discovery process we learned that Ringstar felt their current brand was outdated and needed to be simplified and modernized. They wanted a brand that was bold and made their customers feel like a star in the ring, while still paying homage to the existing red, black color scheme. Furthermore, they wanted a secondary logo that could stand alone from the wordmark.

Design A

After careful consideration with the client, we decided to pursue the first logo solution, which blended the idea of a classic star with an ‘R’. The sharp angles in the mark give it a powerful feel that stands strong when applied to the footwear and apparel. While the ‘R’ creates a subtle depth to the mark that helps it stand out from the competition.

Final Logo

The new brand was more than just the aesthetics though, Brolik spent a lot of time talking to Ringstar’s target audience, learning what was compelling to them about the brand and product and really understanding the problem that was being solved. This understanding translated into a new messaging platform for the brand, capped off with a new tagline...

“Brolik definitely helped us get a better understanding of who our clients are, where to find them, and how to reach them.”

Creative Development

As Ringstar prepared for the launch of their new shoe, Brolik focused in on putting together an exciting marketing campaign to bring it to market. Brolik developed a series of content and creative assets that would position the new product as a big step forward for martial arts safety through protective gear, including video content, graphic assets, and social ads.

Enhancing the Web Experience

While we love building engaging and functional websites for our clients from the ground up, sometimes it makes more sense for us to improve and work with a solution that is already in place. In Ringstar’s case, the website presented an aging design that was built on a Shopify template. It was imperative for us to update and improve the web experience to match their new brand and product.

Starting with their existing shopify site, we were able to update the aesthetics and create a more robust product page experience without stretching Ringstar’s launch budget. The result is a user experience that reflects the quality of the Ringstar brand and product.

After over a year of preparation and several iterations of the product, Brandon and the Ringstar team launched their FightPro V2 with confidence. It wasn’t a direct route, but bringing a new product or idea to market never is.

“I've had the pleasure of working directly with the owners at Brolik. That distinguishes them from other providers. Since the first interaction, I’ve been impressed by the team’s positive energy and the good vibes I got from them. They know their stuff.”

Brandon StairesPresident of Ringstar

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